My horses have always been barefoot. But I never see any barefoot horses at shows and I was wondering if shoes are required. It would be a small fortune to have my big guy shod. I could probably only afford to have it done once a year, if at all. It seems kind of a waste of money to shoe him just for showing when he doesn't even need shoes.

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is ultimately to be at peace with himself.
What a man can be, he must be." Abraham Maslow, 1968

I was actually wondering about the same thing. I'm just not going to worry about it. If my horse can do it without shoes i would prefer to keep him barefoot. I don't know that there is any sort of "requirement" I just think people do it for traction.

Check with the organization that you are going to be showing with. Why would it cost so much to have one horse shod? I think most farriers around here anyway charge $60-75 to put on shoes and $35 to trim. I hope you are getting your horses feet trimmed on a regular basis so the cost to shoe would only be $25-40 more every two months or so.

There's nothing like the Rockies in the springtime... Nothing like the freedom in the air... And there ain't nothing better than draggin calves to the fire and there's nothing like the smell of burning hair. -Brenn Hill

My horse costs £80/$110 every 7 weeks for shoes.
She needs shoes and studs to cope with walking on tarmacced lanes.

The shoes need changing every 7 weeks because the hoof grows.

If we lived in an area where the horse went for the most time on soft ground, then maybe I could get away with not shoeing her - but once she is shod then it is a large bill every 7 weeks.

Almost all of Britain's regularly ridden horses are shod. Mostly ponies escape but not always.

I'm thinking of re-locating again.

B G

Contrary to what you read on this forum the majority of U.S. horses are shod also. The cost to shoe if you board at a barn and have a cerified farrier do it is probably $110-120 every 6-8 weeks but if you shop around and your horse has no special needs then you can find good horseshoers that will do it cheaper.

There's nothing like the Rockies in the springtime... Nothing like the freedom in the air... And there ain't nothing better than draggin calves to the fire and there's nothing like the smell of burning hair. -Brenn Hill

I see a bunch of barefoot horses at lower level events around here. No worries. If you don't want him shod, don't get him shod! My horse is fine barefoot, but when I get her into competition condition, she will be shod because we need stud holes

Look like a SUPERSTAR, Ride like a FOUR STAR, Win like a ROCKSTAREventers: Making BAD Dressage look GOOD!

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